IBM Fellow Chieko Asakawa awarded Medal of Honor

Awarded in Japan's Emperor's name, the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon
is given to outstanding contributors in valuable invention, creation, and
modernization in academic and artistic fields.




IBM Fellow
Chieko Asakawa


The government of Japan awarded the 2013 Medal of Honor with
Purple Ribbon to IBM Fellow Chieko
Asakawa for her outstanding contributions to accessibility research,

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Seeing the potential in digitized Braille

IBM Fellow
Chieko Asakawa recalls the painstaking process of translating her textbooks
to Braille when she was in college. No Braille textbooks were available, so family
members read while Chieko translated using a Braille typewriter. Translating an
English textbook required her family members to spell out each word – which
could take 20 to 30 minutes per page because Braille is “written” by

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